Mission

The Center for a New American Dream helps Americans to reduce and shift their consumption to improve quality of life, protect the environment, and promote social justice.

Since its founding in 1997, New Dream has raised awareness of the negative impact of a hyper-consumer culture. Our focus on the connections between consumption, quality of life, and the environment has made New Dream unique among environmental and progressive groups.

We work with individuals, institutions, businesses, and communities to conserve natural resources, counter the commercialization of our culture, support community engagement, and promote positive changes in the way goods are produced and consumed. New Dream seeks to change social norms around consumption and consumerism and to support the local movement of individuals and communities pursuing lifestyle and community action.

We want to cultivate a new American dream—one that emphasizes community, ecological sustainability, and a celebration of non-material values, while upholding the spirit of the traditional American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

New Dream envisions a society that pursues not just “more,” but more of what matters—and less of what doesn’t.